1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is that of managing communications network plant, and more particularly that of managing the integration and evolution of new network plant by a network management system.
Communications networks generally include a network management system (NMS) enabling their managers or operators to manage and monitor the plant that constitutes their networks using tools executing operation, administration, maintenance, and provisioning (OAM&P) functions and services. In the present context, the plant can be of any type, for example servers, terminals, switches, routers, and concentrators, capable of exchanging data with the network management system in accordance with a network management protocol, for example the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) of RFC 2571-2580.
Each unit of plant includes a management information base (MIB), which is also known as an object instance base, and contains information fields whose specific values characterize it. Also, each plant MIB is associated with a management information base definition (MIB definition) stored in the network management system.
Whenever new plant is launched onto the market, it must have a network management application so that it can be integrated into a network and managed by the network operator.
To facilitate this integration, tools such as MIB browsers and NMS applications, for example, have been developed.
MIB browsers are tools for extracting from a plant MIB information that characterizes the plant. They are generally installed in a network management server which also includes sets of MIB definitions, each definition containing information for the management of one specific unit of network plant. If the network manager requires information that defines a particular plant unit, the management server must load all of the MIB definitions that correspond to the type of plant concerned, then select the MIB definition associated with the designated unit, and finally request the MIB browser to find in the MIB of that unit the information that characterizes it.
2. Description of the Related Art
That information is then communicated by the management server to a graphical user interface of the NMS, so that the manager can take note of it and act accordingly.
MIB browsers have the advantage of requiring no programming once they have been installed in the management server. They are therefore easy to install and allow rapid integration of plant whose descriptors are already installed in the management server. However, they constitute a closed approach in that they cannot evolve to provide improved management services.
NMS applications are tools that present “views” of the network plant on a graphical user interface. To be more precise, these tools include sets of descriptors, each including data designating a type of network plant, data designating the necessary codes, which are generally in Java, for managing that type of plant and in particular for implementing a number of interfaces, as well as, where applicable, a set of configuration files, for example XML (eXtended Markup Language) files containing information for managing a type of network plant. When this kind of descriptor receives from the NMS a request designating plant of the type that it manages, it has a browser of the NMS extract from the MIB of the designated plant the values of certain of its fields, and then delivers to the NMS the data representative of the values extracted.
The above kind of NMS application using XML description files is described in the document “A Framework for Fieldbus Management Using XML Descriptions”, by Martin Wollschlager, published in “Factory Communication Systems, 2000, Proceedings, 2000 IEEE International Workshop, Opporto, Portugal, 6-8 Sep., 2000”, for example
They are based on programming for efficient integration of plant into the network. It is therefore possible to have them evolve in such a manner as to provide improved management services. However, they must be programmed again each time that a new plant type has to be integrated, which significantly increases integration times and therefore costs.
Consequently, no prior art tool is truly satisfactory in terms of both integration time and capacity to evolve.